Addison Winchester (Now Completed)

Chapter 21

John watched as his daughter spoke quietly to Spencer as he grabbed something for her off the top shelf. She leaned against the counter with her arms crossed over her chest and in that moment all he could see was his dead wife. It's almost like Addison stepped out of a picture frame. Addison seemed to posses the same unique trait that had made him love Mary. It was one of the reasons he had been harder on her then the boys. The boys could take care of themselves for the most part. But Addison was never fast enough, or strong enough, at least he never thought so. He couldn't stand the thought of lousing her like he did his wife. He was supposed to protect Mary and he failed, and he swore not to let the same thing happen to his daughter.

But the thing he never thought of was that he was pushing her to hard. In his mind he was doing what was necessary, she could hate him as long as she was alive. He never thought she would run away. It wasn't until he realized that she wasn't coming back that he understood that she wasn't just something to protect and hide, she was his daughter who thought for herself. She used every trick, every skill that he taught her in order to get away, away from him.

John wasn't sure how he felt about Spencer. The kid knows how to play poker but that doesn't really mean anything. He wanted to know weather or not has what it takes to take care of his daughter. He didn't look like he had it in him to pick up a gun let alone shoot one.

The bookshelf that sat on the wall separating the living room from the kitchen was piled high with books on all kinds of things. John was pretty sure that they were nothing Addison would read. There were even a few that John couldn't even pronounce. But as he looked over the titles he saw a few familiar spines. On the very bottom shelf sat his old demonology text book that had gone missing around the time of Addison leaving. He couldn't believe that he hadn't made the connection before now. Every shelf seemed to have a different subject, at least that's the conclusion he came to. The top one was doubt math, the second one had books that appeared to be written in different languages that John didn't recognize and unless Addison had taken a very large obsession in the last four years, she wouldn't know them either.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a look that crossed over Addison's face. It wasn't a look he recognized, at least not on her. It was a very soft look, she had her arms wrapped around his neck and she was pressed against the front of his body. She spoke to lowly for John to be able to hear what was being said. Spencer looked away from her and started to look in John's direction but she quickly grabbed his attention. She unclasped his hands from behind his neck and put them on either side of his face. Her face went from soft to serious and her lips moved slower. She stood up taller and pressed her lips to his. It was a quick peck and then she let go of him completely. She patted him on the shoulder and walked back into the living room.

She sat down on the couch next to John, crossing her legs and turning herself in his direction, leaning against the armrest. "Be nice please." She said in a waning tone to her father. Spencer moved to the chair that took residence next to the bookshelf. His hands were clasped in his lap and his thumbs moved in around one another. If Addison noticed the nervous twitch she didn't let it show.

"Where'd you learn to play poker?" John began.

"Addison taught me." He stumbled over the words. It was one of the first things that they really did together. Addison had thought it was odd that he lived in Vegas and didn't know how to play, especially when she found out how smart his was. She didn't even have to teach him how to cheat, he did that on his own. Though he swears that he didn't start doing it until he caught her. She didn't believe that. "Did you know that poker was created in the 19th century, it was invented by sailors in New Orleans with a deck of 20 cards." Spencer almost seemed to relax as he said the words. He could talk about facts and statistics forever. Addison moved so she was standing next to Spencer's chair, she didn't like not being able to see her father's face and she was really glad she did. His face looked surprised for less then a second before he regained control and Addison had to fight her own face to keep from smiling.

"He's a quick study." Her voice held an edge of humor and John watched as she moved a hand to his shoulder. She was about to say something else but the sound of her phone ringing turned her attention. She walked back into the kitchen and vanished behind the wall. He decided to ask the questions that he really wanted the answers to while she wasn't in the room.

"How exactly did you meet Addison?" John leaned forward onto his knees. It must have been pretty soon after she left.

"Well, um. I got...a...attacked," he stuttered, "by some gang members on my way h-home from school and she, she interfered." Spencer twitched in the seat and glanced back towards the kitchen like he couldn't wait until Addison came back into the room.

"She interfered?" He made it a question even though he wasn't expecting an answer. He had expected all of his children to do something if they ever saw someone that they could help.

"Yes. But she got stabbed in the process."

"Spence you shouldn't have told him that." Addison came back into the room with the phone in her hands.

"You got stabbed?" John stood up.

"Yes, I didn't see the knife until it was to late. Nothing major got hit and don't even start Spencer we can argue about it later." Spencer didn't argue but he obviously felt the tension rise in the room because he looked between the father and daughter with a somewhat panicked expression.

"You didn't see it? What do you mean you didn't see it?"

"If I had seen it then I wouldn't have gotten stabbed, there were too many of them and I'm only one person." She moved back to where she was standing with her hand resting on the back of the chair.

"But he was there."

"Dad, Spencer isn't exactly street smart, he's more book smart."

"So he just sat there and watched you get stabbed? What the hell was he doing?" John exclaimed moving toward the couple. Addison matched him until they were standing directly in front of one another.

"Dad, first of all I was doing everything you taught me too, second of all, don't blame Spencer for something he wasn't trained in. And third, if I gave a damn that he can't fight then I wouldn't be with him right now. I love him the way he is and there's nothing wrong with that. Not to mention if he hadn't helped me get back to my motel room I probably would have bled out." Addison took a deep breath. "Can we not fight please? You've been here for lest then 24-" She got cut off by Spencer's phone beeping. "Is that a case?" She asked tiredly turning towards him. "You just got home from the last one." Even as she said them she knew that him getting out of the house was the best thing at this moment in time. The last thing she wanted was for her or John to say something that she didn't want him to hear. He looked down at his phone before answering.

"It's local." Was all he said. He didn't like going into detail with Addison. She was already worried about everything going on with her family, she didn't need to worry about him as well. He almost wanted to call Aaron and see if he could maybe sit this one out, leaving Addison alone with her father didn't sound like a very good idea. He stood up and made a wide arc around the father and daughter and walked into their bedroom. Addison steeped away from her father and took her seat on the couch.

"Where's Dean?" She crossed her legs and then her arms. Her voice was soft but her face wasn't. She was thankful that he wasn't here, if he had been that argument would still be going raging on.

"Working a case in Florida."

"You sent him on a case all on his own?"

"He's 25 years old, he can handle himself." Spencer came back out of the room with his messenger bag in hand. Addison stood and met him at the front door.

"Please be careful. I don't want to have to hunt down some low life killers to avenge you."She tried to lichen the mood with the comment but it went right over his head.

"If the unsub killed me, the police wouldn't allow you-" She pressed a kiss to his lips effectively cutting him off and opened the door for him. He gave one last glance to John before.

"Go, I'll be fine." She assured him, gently pushing him out the door. He opened his mouth to say something but she beat him to it, "I don't think he's going to do anything that will stress me out to much. Right dad?" She turned and gave her father a look and it wasn't a friendly one.

"Right."